Best Stephen King Film/TV Adaptations?

liah

Currently have The Green Mile, The Mist (B&W DC), The Shining, Stand By Me, Misery, Carrie, Pet Sematary, Creepshow, The Shawshank Redemption, Dolores Claiborne, 1408 and Nightmares and Dreamscapes.

So what quintessential King am I missing? I know there's been a ridiculous amount of adaptations of his works and I don't think I can afford all of them, so I'm looking to get the good stuff I haven't already got and need your suggestions.

Links234

The Dead Zone, the old one with Christopher Walken, is really good.

Einstein

I quite enjoyed Rose Red!

Didnt get great reviews! But I liked it

Am a sucker for haunted house type stories!

cucbuc

The Stand is good.
"IT" awful but good somehow..:D

Sad Professor

cucbuc wrote: »

The Stand is good.

It's really, really not. The book is brilliant and deserved so much better.

Eirebear

The ones you mentioned, otherwise...meh.

Gloomtastic!

Can't remember the name but the film made up of loads of short stories - the one where a bloke has to give up smoking- or else! Thought it was a good film.

Anyone know the title?

Revolution9

cucbuc wrote: »

"IT" awful but good somehow..:D

I agree, so bad it's good

STIG83

The Langoliers

sxt

The Mist

Apt pupil, with Ian Mckellan

Sleepwalkers

nlgbbbblth

Children Of The Corn is amazing. AN ADULT NIGHTMARE said the trailers back in 1984.

Christine and Cujo have their moments

nlgbbbblth

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Can't remember the name but the film made up of loads of short stories - the one where a bloke has to give up smoking- or else! Thought it was a good film.

Anyone know the title?

Quitters Inc.

adapted as part of Cat's Eye. Also amazing.

rednik

The original Salem's Lot starring David Soul. A great show, maybe dated now but when released scared the crap out of most us then.

TheBunk1

I quite liked The storm of the Century. I saw it years ago when I was young so maybe I couldn't really tell if it was actually good :-) prob worth a watch anyway

liah

Yeah, I remember seeing Salem's Lot on TV as a kid, but I wonder if it would be worth watching again. All I can remember now, years on, is crappy lighting and weird accents.

I really wish people would start adapting his works again (Darabont, in particular!) - there's so much potential there and now that we've moved away from stupid, cheesy CGI/practical effects, poor lighting and 80s soundtracks, why isn't anyone taking advantage? King's one of the best modern character/horror writers there is, you'd figure he'd be a veritable gold mine with the film companies.

Speaking of Darabont and King, they're collaborating on an episode of The Walking Dead.. was about to give up on the show until I saw that. Delighted now

cucbuc

Sad Professor wrote: »

It's really, really not. The book is brilliant and deserved so much better.

M-0-0-N that spells "I liked it anyway".:p Its not a patch on the book tho, its true. Most of those adaptations are so dated looking; the books don't age as badly, maybe cos you cant see the haircuts/clothes/Rob Lowe...

Sad Professor

TheBunk1 wrote: »

I quite liked The storm of the Century. I saw it years ago when I was young so maybe I couldn't really tell if it was actually good :-) prob worth a watch anyway

King wrote it as a mini-series so it's not really an adaptation, but yeah it's really good. I watched it a while ago and thought it held up well.

cucbuc wrote: »

M-0-0-N that spells "I liked it anyway".:p Its not a patch on the book tho, its true. Most of those adaptations are so dated looking; the books don't age as badly, maybe cos you cant see the haircuts/clothes/Rob Lowe...

Yeah, the haircuts certainly don't help, but even putting the dated stuff aside, I just think the book demands a big-budget cinematic adaptation.

Otis Driftwood

liah wrote: »

Currently have The Green Mile, The Mist (B&W DC), The Shining, Stand By Me, Misery, Carrie, Pet Sematary, Creepshow, The Shawshank Redemption, Dolores Claiborne, 1408 and Nightmares and Dreamscapes.

So what quintessential King am I missing? I know there's been a ridiculous amount of adaptations of his works and I don't think I can afford all of them, so I'm looking to get the good stuff I haven't already got and need your suggestions.

For my money you should pick up

Christine - directed by John Carpenter no less.It seems to be a forgotten adaptation.Personally I like it.

The Running Man - Pure 80's action cheese but its got Arnie and some splosions and is actually pretty funny.

Cujo - scared the bejaysus out of me as a kid but it still carries a certain amount of menace.

Maximum Overdrive - Like The Running Man,its a bit cheesey but its a decent,bloody,fun sci fi flick.

Given their age and relative obscurity you should have no problem picking them up cheap as chips.

niallon

Another King adaptation I enjoyed was Dolan's Caddilac. Although I thought the casting was quite off in some ways, the film as a whole is a good example of what makes King work. Low budget really is a key factor in any good adaptation, King's novels, The Dark Tower books aside, are written as if the author is sat in a crummy motel eating days old chinese food, that's exactly how some of the best King movies should feel.

liah

niallon wrote: »

Another King adaptation I enjoyed was Dolan's Caddilac. Although I thought the casting was quite off in some ways, the film as a whole is a good example of what makes King work. Low budget really is a key factor in any good adaptation, King's novels, The Dark Tower books aside, are written as if the author is sat in a crummy motel eating days old chinese food, that's exactly how some of the best King movies should feel.

Disagree on low budget making King's adaptations/being a key factor. Completely disagree. If given the right backing, the man can deliver a genuinely high-quality adaptation and instant classic. I would much, much prefer to see more producers put some honest money into adapting King's work, because the results can be utterly fantastic. King is a true character writer and The Mist was a brilliant recent representation of what a King-to-film adaptation should be like; the black and white director's cut version, anyway. Its character scenes were so intense, the film would be utterly ruined if it was made cheap and campy (e.g. the colour version..), and it just bled Stephen King.

I love cheap, campy, low-budget films just as much (if not more) as the next person, but there's far more than can be done with King's work if given half the chance than just that. I'd love to see some more of that potential realized on screen - given the budget it deserves. The appeal of King is that he can be genuinely horrifying. Low budgets take that away.

jc84

STIG83 wrote: »

The Langoliers

Haha forgotten about this one, so awful its really good, time to dust my dvd off for a good laugh

niallon

liah wrote: »

Disagree on low budget making King's adaptations/being a key factor. Completely disagree. If given the right backing, the man can deliver a genuinely high-quality adaptation and instant classic. I would much, much prefer to see more producers put some honest money into adapting King's work, because the results can be utterly fantastic. King is a true character writer and The Mist was a brilliant recent representation of what a King-to-film adaptation should be like; the black and white director's cut version, anyway. Its character scenes were so intense, the film would be utterly ruined if it was made cheap and campy (e.g. the colour version..), and it just bled Stephen King.

I love cheap, campy, low-budget films just as much (if not more) as the next person, but there's far more than can be done with King's work if given half the chance than just that. I'd love to see some more of that potential realized on screen - given the budget it deserves. The appeal of King is that he can be genuinely horrifying. Low budgets take that away.

I don't mean camp, just low budget. The Mist was low buget! I'm talking low compared to the money that went in to the likes of Dreamcatcher, and we all know how great that was!

humanji

I quite liked Needful Things. It's not a brilliant film, but for some reason I really liked it. You kind of get the feeling that all the actors were having a ball while making it, and it kind of makes me enjoy it more. And the cast is fantastic.

Kingdom Hospital wasn't bad either. Although that's more an adaptation that King did. But it's still well put together.

Skerries

I really enjoyed The Lawnmower Man at the time but looks dated now

MagicMarker

Only watched The Langoliers myself about a month ago, first time I'd seen it since it was aired on TV! :eek:

beano345

cujo isnt bad! dont even bother with the running man film not a patch on the book. id love to see the the talisman adapted for tv also.

liah

niallon wrote: »

I don't mean camp, just low budget. The Mist was low buget! I'm talking low compared to the money that went in to the likes of Dreamcatcher, and we all know how great that was!

Ah, thought you might be referring to stuff like Creepshow or IT. My bad

humanji

beano345 wrote: »

cujo isnt bad! dont even bother with the running man film not a patch on the book. id love to see the the talisman adapted for tv also.

That's in the works at the moment.

allanb49

Dreamcatcher?

Anyone?

gets coat....

I've found with Kings movies theres no middle ground,
Either really good or really bad, none that you can say are ok,

I did like Sometimes they come back though, it was very cheesy and in that period of late 80s early 90s schtick, saying that i saw it when i was 7 or 8 so thats why i have fond memories of it.

Silverbullet i heard is meant to be good

Corkfeen

The Stand miniseries was awful although the beginning was brilliant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN8kUGETTFA

mikhail

liah wrote: »

Currently have ...The Shining...

I should note that there two different adaptations of The Shining.

There's a TV miniseries from the 90s which is supposed to be much more faithful to King's vision (though I don't know if he had any involvement in it) and is shot in and around the actual hotel which King used as inspiration.

More likely you meant the better known Kubrick version, but again there are two different versions. The US theatrical cut is about 20 minutes or so longer than the European cut most of us have seen (Kubrick re-edited the film after the US release based on the reviews - an odd decision, I think). I quite like both cuts, and recommend picking up a DVD if you're in the US at some point, or on Amazon.com or another specifically American site.

podgemonster

King was heavily invovled in the 90s miniseries, i remember reading that for the Kubrick version Kings insisted he have the right to make his version several year after, which he did.

I liked the miniseries and is really faithful to the book, unlike Kubricks it doesnt skip the wasps nest or the animated topiary. Jack even somehow redeems himself somewhat towards the end. And as fan of the book (which is brilliant) i enjoyed but it doesnt come close to the suspense, eerieness and tension created in Kubrick version.

The main difference is in the book, its the Overlooks power that seduces Jack and turns him in a monster wheras Kubrick version we see the Overlook as powerful but Jack himself is unstable, the manifestations are mostly his own and its his mind that snaps and leads him to want to murder his wife and only son.

The Stand imo opinion could never done in a movie, theres just too much there. The only way I would like to see it done would be to track 3 or 4 people from the end of the Captain Trips episode like Larry, Stan, Nick and Llyod and as they progress and meet other people and use LOST like flashbacks to fill in there backstories. People who read the book may know whats coming but for a new audience it could be pretty awesome.

thebostoncrab

The first half of IT was fun...the second part however...

beano345

ive heard for the last few years insomnia is being adapted into a film? pretty hard book to adapt to film and do it justice

GarH

Am i the only one who actually preferred the TV version of The Shining to the movie?
You know, the one with Rebecca DeMornay.

Not that the movie was bad, I just felt it was closer to the book (which is my favourite S.K. book btw)

dark crystal

So, I'm a big fan of both Stephen King books and most of the films they have spawned (Dreamcatcher, Cujo, The Running Man and Hearts In Atlantis being notable exceptions...)

What, in your opinions have been the best adaptations of his work?

For me, I think I would have to go with Misery as being my personal favourite (although, in the book, Annie Wilkes was even crueller to the Paul Sheldon character than was portrayed in the movie).

The Shawshank Redemption would run a close second.

Have to say, I am really looking forward to the long awaited Frank Darabont helmed adaptation of my favourite King story, The Long Walk - although we could be in for wait for that one.

p to the e

If we're including TV adaptions then IT by a mile. Still gives me the willies (heh heh willy). For straight up films it has to be either The Green Mile or 1408. I thought going in that 1408 was going to be complete rubbish but turned out to have a good few scares.

bluefinger

The shining although shawshank was a great movie very true to the short story

Sad Professor

There was already a recent thread on this. I've merged them.

SirLemonhead

I've heard Frank Darabont has the rights to do The Long Walk - was always one of my favourite stories. Woud love to see how that'd turn out. Fancy watching Graveyard shift again even though I know it's not great...and misery (which is good)

Would like to see the Library Policeman from four past midnight too (was another one of my favourites)

Oh! I want to watch the night flier again too, I remember it being really creepy..

SirLemonhead

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Quitters Inc.

adapted as part of Cat's Eye. Also amazing.

Wow forgot that one, i'll add that to my rewatch list! I don't think i've seen that since I was 14 years old! ( nearly 27 now..)

SirLemonhead

beano345 wrote: »

cujo isnt bad! dont even bother with the running man film not a patch on the book. id love to see the the talisman adapted for tv also.

Cujo isn't great.. I watched it last weekend and didn't find it holding my interest much. It's slow moving, due to character development, but not much comes of it or happens in the end so it's all a bit meh.

The running man movie, while nothing like the book (just started to read that again), is a great bit of entertainment :pac: